Mount Emei (; ),
alternately Mount Omei, is a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
in
Sichuan Province
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
, China, and is the highest of the
Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China.
Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the
Sichuan Basin
The Sichuan Basin (), formerly transliterated as the Szechwan Basin, sometimes called the Red Basin, is a lowland region in southwestern China. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is drained by the upper Yangtze River and its tributar ...
. The mountains west of it are known as
Daxiangling Daxiangling (), or Daxiang Range is a fairly small mountain range in China's Sichuan Province. It runs in the general western and northwestern direction from the famous sacred Mount Emei, and is part of the western mountainous rim of the Sichuan Bas ...
.
A large surrounding area of countryside is geologically known as the Permian Emeishan Large Igneous Province, a
large igneous province
A large igneous province (LIP) is an extremely large accumulation of igneous rocks, including intrusive (sills, dikes) and extrusive (lava flows, tephra deposits), arising when magma travels through the crust towards the surface. The formation ...
generated by the
Emeishan Traps volcanic eruptions during the
Permian Period
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
.
Administratively, Mount Emei is located near the
county-level city
A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...
of the same name (
Emeishan City
Emeishan () is a county-level city in Sichuan province, China. It is administered by the prefecture-level city Leshan. Its population in 1990 stood at 396,445. It is named after Mount Emei, a famous mountain located within its administration.
Cli ...
), which is in turn part of the
prefecture-level city
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.
During the Republican era, many of China ...
of
Leshan
Leshan, formerly known as Jiading or Jiazhou, is a prefecture-level city located at the confluence of the Dadu and Min rivers in Sichuan Province, China. Leshan is located on the southwestern fringe of the Sichuan Basin in southern Sichuan, abou ...
. It was made a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
in 1996.
As a sacred mountain
Mount Emei is one of the
Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China, and is traditionally regarded as the
bodhimaṇḍa
Bodhimaṇḍa (Sanskrit and Pali) or daochang () is a term used in Buddhism meaning the "position of awakening". According to Haribhadra, it is "a place used as a seat, where the essence of enlightenment is present".
Bodhimaṇḍas are regular ...
, or place of enlightenment, of the
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra is known in
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
as Pǔxián Púsà ().
Sources of the 16th and 17th centuries allude to the practice of
martial arts in the monasteries of Mount Emei, which made the earliest extant reference to the Shaolin Monastery as Chinese boxing's place of origin.
[.]
Buddhist architecture on Emei
This is the location of the first
Buddhist temple built in China in the 1st century CE.
The site has seventy-six Buddhist monasteries of the
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
and
Qing dynasties, most of them located near the mountain top. The monasteries demonstrate a flexible architectural style that adapts to the landscape. Some, such as the halls of Baoguosi, are built on terraces of varying levels, while others, including the structures of Leiyinsi, are on raised stilts. Here the fixed plans of Buddhist monasteries of earlier periods were modified or ignored in order to make full use of the natural scenery. The buildings of Qingyinge are laid out in an irregular plot on the narrow piece of land between the
Black Dragon River
The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...
and the
White Dragon River
The Bailong River () is a river 576km long river in the Yangtze River basin. From its source to confluence with the Jialing River, the Bailong is actually longer and is thus the main stem of the Jialing River system. The scenic Jiuzhaigou reserve ...
. The site is large and the winding footpath is long, taking several days to walk.
Cable cars ease the ascent to the two temples at
Jinding
The Jinding (), elevation , is the main peak of Mount Emei, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sichuan, China. It is also a common name for the Buddhist Huazang Temple () built on the summit. Jinding is the highest Buddhist temple in traditionall ...
(3,077 m), an hour's hike from the mountain's peak.
[Hayes, Holly (2009]
Emei Shan
Sacred Destinations. Updated 24 July 2009.[Gluckman, Ron (2002)]
''Silk Road'', December 2002. Hong Kong; Dragon Airlines.
Climate
The summit of Mount Emei has an alpine
subarctic climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Dwc''), with long, cold (but not severely so) winters, and short, cool summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, and the annual mean is . Precipitation is common year-round (occurring on more than 250 days), but due to the influence of the
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...
, rainfall is especially heavy in summer, and more than 70% of the annual total occurs from June to September.
Indigenous animals
Visitors to Mount Emei will likely see dozens of
Tibetan macaque
The Tibetan macaque (''Macaca thibetana''), also known as the Chinese stump-tailed macaque or Milne-Edwards' macaque, is a macaque species found from eastern Tibet east to Guangdong and north to Shaanxi in China. It has also been reported from ...
s, which can often be viewed taking food from tourists. Local merchants sell nuts for tourists to feed the monkeys. Other featured animals includes ''
Rana adenopleura'', ''
Vibrissaphora liui
''Leptobrachium liui'', the Chong'an moustache toad or Pope's spiny toad, is a species of frog in the family Megophryidae.
It is endemic to southern and southeastern China.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, ...
'' and ''
Pheretima praepinguis''.
Flora
Mount Emei is known for its high level of
endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
and approximately 200 plant species in various plant families have been described from this mountain.
A rare species of Fir tree is endemic to this mountain it is
Abies Fabri
''Abies fabri'' (Faber's fir) is a conifer species in the family Pinaceae. It is endemic to Sichuan in western China, occurring on the sacred mountain of Emei Shan (from where it was first described) and westward to the Gongga Shan massif, growi ...
.
Gallery
File:峨眉山风景区 Mount Emei Scenic Area 06.jpg, Wanfoding
File:Mount Emei pic 3.jpg, A temple at the Golden Summit
File:Massive golden buddha on the sumit of Eimei Shan.jpg, Massive statue of Samantabhadra at the summit of Mount Emei
File:Baoguosi.jpg, Baoguo Temple, a Buddhist temple
File:报国寺弥勒殿.JPG, Buddhist temple at Mount Emei
File:CrystalStreamOverpass2.jpg, Wooden bridgewalk over the Crystal Stream, western slopes
File:MacaqueEmeishan.jpg, Macaque indigenous to the region
File:Sunrise at Eimei Shan.jpg, Sunrise over Mount Emei
File:Sunrise over clouded sea on sumit of Eimei Shan.jpg, Sunrise over a sea of clouds at Mount Emei
File:Guangfu pavilion at Mount Emei.JPG, Guangfu pavilion, with summit visible in background
File:Elephant statues in the fog on the steps of the temple atop Mount Emei.jpg, Elephant statues on the steps leading to the statue of Samantabhadra
File:Mount emei tour.jpg, alt=mount emei travel guide, Monkeys of Mount Emei
File:在峨秀湖远望峨眉山 Mount Emei 1.jpg, Mount Emei and Exiu Lake
File:在峨秀湖远望峨眉山 Mount Emei 2.jpg, Mount Emei and Exiu Lake
See also
*
Baoguo Temple
*
Fuhu Temple
Fuhu Temple ( Chinese: 伏虎寺; pinyin: Fúhǔ Sì) is an ancient Buddhist temple located in the foothills of Mount Emei in Sichuan Province, China. It has been a Provincial-Level Protected Cultural Relic of Sichuan Province since 2002, and a ...
*
Jinding
The Jinding (), elevation , is the main peak of Mount Emei, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sichuan, China. It is also a common name for the Buddhist Huazang Temple () built on the summit. Jinding is the highest Buddhist temple in traditionall ...
, main peak of Mount Emei
*
Shengji Bronze Bell
*
Wannian Temple
*
Xixiang Chi
Xixiang Chi (), also known as Tianhua Chanyuan (), is one of the most important Buddhist temples and monasteries on Mount Emei in Emeishan City, Sichuan, China.
The temple is located more than 2,000 metres above sea level. The monastery was fo ...
, also known as Tianhua Chanyuan
*
Zuo Ci
Zuo Ci (), courtesy name Yuanfang, was a legendary personage of the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period (20 BC–280 AD) of China. Though he is known to be from Lujiang Commandery (盧江郡; around present-day Lu'an, Anhui) ...
*
Emei Sect
The Emei Sect is a fictional martial arts sect mentioned in several works of ''wuxia'' fiction. It is commonly featured as one of the leading orthodox sects in the '' wulin'' (martial artists' community). It is named after the place where it is b ...
, fictional martial arts sect
References
External links
Religion and the environment in China, 中国的宗教与环境 - chinadialogue articleMount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha, Scenic Area: official Unesco site
{{authority control
Chinese Buddhist grottoes
Emei
Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...
National parks of China
World Heritage Sites in China
Chinese architectural history
Emei
Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...
Tourist attractions in Leshan
Buddhism in Sichuan
Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Sichuan
Buddhist sites in China
Emei
Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...